Lost in Translation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaJBr96x0S8

As mentioned before I posted my rondori on YouTube for all to see.

I thought it turned out pretty well and it looks spectacular but there is problem with video. As one viewer commented on the video: “I'm sure you can kick my butt, but this was 99% fake....they didnt even wanna touch you”(sic) .

I suppose I should be pissed when people say “ Oh that’s so fake” I understand that the rush and energy does not translate through the camera but I can tell you and the anonymous poster that what you see in the video is quite real. I know, I was there and those young guys were trying very hard to grab hold of me. This is not aikido as Tabata Sensei has pointed out many times, it is an exercise in extending ki no matter what is happening. You try staying calm while five guys come at you.

“Why would you let someone grab you if you were walking down the street?” Tabata Sensei, the senior instructor often said when training us for this exercise. We are trained to lead them by before they can touch you . If someone comes at you, you better not wait until they grab hold of your coat before reacting or you’re done for.

The real life application is there in every play in a football game or dealing with a class room full of first graders. I once had to take a timed typing exam and was so stressed by it until I reminded myself it was rondori. I aced it. I used the same feeling when I was stage manager at the Lord Leebrick Theater corralling a dozen people back stage and make sure they were ready for their cues.

Think about this the next time you have four things that need to be done now. Think about this when you have to drive in heavy traffic in bad weather. Think about this the next time you feel overwhelmed with stress. Relax , extend ki and let it go by.

Adventures at the Library

"Touche, you little monster."

I come to the library to do my thing in tech service polishing DVD’s and CDs. I have a routine: put my bag on a chair, crank up the polishing machne and check the supplies. I look at the to do pile and -wait a minute ! I cleaned those DVD’s last week, what is this? I seem to be doing the same ones over and over like some Sisyphian task with no end. Sigh. I pass the time doing the daily crossword puzzle and trading bon mots with the Techman, Gene.

“What are you going to do with the rest of your life? “ he asks out of the blue. His philosophical question knocks me off my feet. What provokes him to ask this I wonder as I mentally scramble to to my feet.

This is a the kind of “meaning of life” question I try to dodge on a daily basis. It can wake me from a sound sleep drenched in flop sweat . The kind of question that paralyzes me with dread, panic, horror. Quick think of something clever and meaningful before he realizes you au are a complete slacker, loser, dweeb- my mind screams.

“Um, I don’t know. What about you smart guy?” hah, good retort I think smugly.

“I’ll get smart.” he replies. Is that a rim shot I hear?

“It’s never too late to dream of being rich and famous.” he later wonders out loud. Man, what is it with Mr. Milquetoast and his existentialism today? Is he having a mid life crisis he needs to unloads on to others? Ok get a grip here if we’re going to spar.

“ I don’t know about famous but I can handle being rich. After all, fame is fleeting but money always talks.” score one for the fat chick. The work here may be mundane but the repartee never is.

A Better idea

The three big auto companies have come to Washington asking for a hand out. How nice. Only in America can you run a company into the ground with bad business practices then beg the government to give you money you lost on your lousy products. Sign me up for that.

The Ford Motor Company that invented the assemble line, making cars affordable turned into a company that made the pinto knowing it was a dud with a potentially fatal gas tank design. The profits outweighed the cost of a human life a memo insisted.

GMC made an efficient electric car years ago then turned around and killed it at considerable expense. The CEO thinks they are a dumb idea but now because of the rising price of gas must produce them again.

Chrysler isn’t even an American company anymore -it’s owned by a consortium of European investors when even Daimler couldn’t save it.

Here’s an idea. Let’s give every employee of the big three making less than say $100,000 a full years salary and let the companies fail. Then have the government offer a prize and healthy tax incentive to any new company that can design and build an affordable, fuel efficient car. Innovation is what American engineers and business have always been good at in the past, let’s bring that back.